Thursday, September 12, 2013

Daily Devotional Thought--For Thursday

Collect
of the Week (Proper 18-C)

O
merciful Lord, You did not spare Your only Son but delivered Him up for us all.
Grant us courage and strength to take up the cross and follow Him, who lives
and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Mark
10:17-31 (From the Daily Bible Story Lectionary)

17 And as he was
setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him,
"Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 18 And Jesus said to him,
"Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: 'Do
not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do
not defraud, Honor your father and mother.'" 20 And he said to him,
"Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth." 21 And Jesus, looking at him,
loved him, and said to him, "You lack one thing: go, sell all that you
have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come,
follow me." 22
Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great
possessions.

23 And Jesus
looked around and said to his disciples, "How difficult it will be for
those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!" 24 And the disciples were amazed
at his words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how difficult it is1
to enter the kingdom of God! 25
It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich
person to enter the kingdom of God."
26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him,1
"Then who can be saved?"
27 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man it is
impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God." 28 Peter began to say to him,
"See, we have left everything and followed you." 29 Jesus said, "Truly, I say
to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or
father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold
now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and
lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be
last, and the last first."

Catechism: The Ninth & Tenth Commandments

What is the Ninth Commandment?

You
shall not covet your neighbor’s house.

What does this mean?

We should fear
and love God so that we do scheme to get our neighbor’s inheritance or house,
or get it in a way which only appears right, but help and be of service to him
in keeping it.

What is the Tenth
Commandment?

You shall not
covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey,
or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

What does this mean?

We should fear
and love God so that we do not entice or force away our neighbor’s wife,
workers, or animals, or turn them against him, but urge them to stay and do
their duty.

Jesus called the rich young man to live by faith in Him
rather than in his earthly possessions and the works he had performed. The
young man thought he was good, when there is no one who is good but God alone.
The man’s sadness reflects his dependence upon his possessions for good, rather
than upon the Good One. The one thing the young man lacked was faith in Christ—a
faith which confesses sin and looks to Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus preached the Law to condemn us all, for all our
hearts are distracted by the riches of this life, not only money and
possessions, but everything that we may value for good in our lives (i.e., health,
family, etc.). Sinners can be saved only by the Good One, Jesus, who draws as
[camels] through the eye of the needle. Through the preaching of the Law and
the Gospel, the Holy SPIrit has called us to repentance and life in the truth
faith.

We pray…for the Church and her pastors; for teachers,
deaconesses, and other church workers; for missionaries and for all who serve
the Church; for fruitful and salutary use of the blessed Sacrament of Christ’s
body and blood.